Oh, my, it's been quiet around here! There are lots of reasons for that, and I'll get to them a bit later in this post. Right now, though, I'm excited to share a layout that you'll find in the latest issue of Scrapbook Generation's Create magazine!

It's no secret that I love Scrapbook Generation's sketch downloads, so when they asked the Simple Stories design team to contribute layouts to the May issue, I jumped at the chance! I worked with a two page sketch (you can find all of this month's featured sketches here as a free download) and used Simple Stories' Hey Mom simple set to finish up scrapping some photos from Mother's Day of 2012. I've done a few one- and two- photo layouts from this day already, but I had a bunch of random shots left over that I wanted to go ahead and get on a page. This two-page sketch has space for 12 photos!

Create's sketch downloads include both a single and double page layout sketch as well as card and tag sketches each month, and I used some of the leftovers from my layout to make a tag following the May sketch.

So, about the five week silence here on the blog...

If you listened to the Paperclipping Roundtable a few weeks ago, then you've already heard this, but life has gotten extremely busy for me lately. Not a stressed out sort of busy, but I do find myself going full speed from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed each day, and the blog has simply fallen to the bottom of my priority list.

I had an inkling that this was going to happen back in April, and at that time I contacted all of my design teams to let them know that I would need to step down this summer. They've all been great about working on an exit date with me, and I'm staying on to work through the design cycle with the product I've already been sent. I absolutely did not want to just drop everybody suddenly and have given them plenty of time and notice, and Crate Paper and Simple Stories both actually asked if I wanted to stay on to work with the mid-season releases, even after I sent in my resignation. I'll be leaving all of my teams in the June/July timeframe.

Citrus Twist asked if I'd like to stay on after my last kit as a designer with them (in July, which is when the new design team from their current call will be announced) and continue to do the monthly kit reveal videos as well as taking a more active role on their social media channels. I've always been a behind-the-scenes technical consultant for them on their various channels, so it's a natural role for me to fall into. I'll also be taking over photographing the kits for the web site, and I actually started that with May's kits.

I'll also be retiring completely from blogging after my last design team assignments in July. I have enjoyed blogging here for the last 6 years, but my life has changed to the point where I just don't have time for it any more without letting something else important fall through the cracks. With Darren starting school this fall and a growing Star & Bee (which I am so, so grateful for- I actually spent most of the last three days moving the business operations into a new, bigger space to work in!) on my hands along with a full-time job, there just aren't enough hours in the day to give my best work to everything.

I'll still be scrapbooking for sure- I have so many little challenges on a list for myself, including no more shopping and using up the supplies that I have. I've also got a wild idea to make a layout using each and every one of Scrapbook Generation's sketches (and there are hundreds!), and I'm itching to do more digital scrapbooking, especially as I work through my physical supplies (which, honestly, will take years). Not having to photograph and post layouts will leave me more time for crafting, which I'm really looking forward to.

I will absolutely miss all of the lovely people who have read and commented on my blog over the years, and I'm so grateful for your support. Thank you all!

Project Life 2011 - July 31 - August 6, 2011

Spring has finally decided to make an appearance here in Huntsville! This week I've been able to experience the joys of running outdoors without freezing my tail off, driving without the need for heated seats (though I'm still eternally grateful to Darren for that particular Christmas gift last year), and gardening. The Botanical Garden is having their annual Spring plant sale this weekend, and we went today and came home with a few choice bits of greenery to add to the gardens here at the house.

There's lots of green in the Project Life layout I'm posting today, too, including photos from a trip to the Gardens and flowers blooming in my front yard nearly two years ago. Some things will never change, thank goodness!

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

This layout was actually up on the Simple Stories blog a couple of weeks ago, and I turned the camera on and filmed while I was scrapping so I could put together a video of the process.


I simply adore Simple Stories' "A Charmed Life" collection, and as a St. Patrick's Day birthday girl it felt a little wrong to use it for something besides birthday photos the first time I cut into it. The greens, blues, and yellows were just perfect for these photos, though, and I'm sure I'll be using it again on St. Patrick's Day pictures before too long.

In a small and not-entirely-unrelated-to-my-recent-blog-silence bit of news, Darren (otherwise known as my husband and also as "he who installed the awesome heated seats that I mentioned above") has officially been accepted to medical school starting this fall! I'm thrilled for him since he's wanted this for a long, long time, but it's also brought on more than a few "so much to do and so little time" thoughts since the acceptance letter arrived. We have so many things we want to finish around the house, and basically only one summer left to do them all before he starts four years of school followed by four years of residency. The next three months are now or never time for getting those things done ourselves, and we'll definitely be staying busy!

Project Life 2011 - October 9-15 with Simple Stories

Last week found me posting a new Life Documented layout over on the Simple Stories blog, and since we're waiting for the new collections to ship (UPS claims that my box should actually arrive today- we shall see) I went back to last fall's mid-release, Daily Grind, for my weekly layout.

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

Now that I've wrapped up CHA coverage, I'm looking at my Lightroom catalog full of photos that need to be edited and getting a bit of a sinking feeling- there are so many! That's one aspect of Project Life that I like to keep up on, and I admit that I've been not-so-awesome at it lately. I'm not gonna stress over it, though- instead, I'm going to spend just 15 minutes a day (sounds very Flylady, right?) getting caught up on them. My 2012 album is finished, and I've scrapped all of the pages in my 2013 album that I had photos printed for (up through the middle of August), but I still have plenty of 2011 layouts to finish up, so I'll be tackling those on the scrapping side of things until the editing and printing is in order.

This week's layout is actually one of those 2011 weeks, covering October 9-15 in all of its early-fall glory. To play up that fall theme without actually pulling out seasonal products, I selected papers, cards, and embellishments from Daily Grind in shades of orange, yellow, and red and then accented with natural textures such as woodgrain and cork.

And, what timing! The UPS driver just rang the bell and left a package on my porch, so please excuse me while I dash off to check out all the lovely new Simple Stories releases!

Simple Stories in 2014

Joining the Simple Stories Life Documented team last summer was one of those unexpected things that I was ever so happy to have happen. I had just finished a massive vacation album feature for Two Peas using their new (at the time) Pocket Pages and had fallen head-over-heels for their designs and the ease and simplicity of their products when they asked me if I wanted to join their new Life Documented focus. I jumped at the chance to do Project Life-style layouts for such a great company! Plus, two-page Allison Davis sketches using a combination of Pocket Pages + regular layouts? Yes, please!

I was equally thrilled to be asked to join them again in 2014, along with this talented group of lovely ladies. Simple Stories has a great product lineup in store for you this year, and they'll start sharing peeks of it on their blog on January 6th. I'll also be photographing their booth while I'm at CHA and will have an up-close and personal look at the products to share with you then.

Here's to another year of documenting life!

Project Life 2013 - Week 27 with Simple Stories

I gotta admit, it feels a little odd to be posting fireworks photos from July at the beginning of December, but that just happens to be the set of photos that I chose while scrapping with the new Daily Grind collection from Simple Stories. Week 27 of my Project Life album was up on their blog last week, and now I have two fireworks displays (one of which we had to watch from the car due to rain), a 5K race, and a few little projects that we were working on around the house documented in my album.

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

I'm totally digging the woodgrains + camera prints in this collection, along with the earthier, saturated colors. And if you have some older Simple Stories products hanging around your stash like I do, then you'll find that this collection pairs up nicely with those past lines, especially Snap and Urban Traveler.

This little 3x4 speech bubble card was one of my favorites, and I turned it into a purely decorative piece to fill in an empty pocket on my page. I outlined the bubbles with a white gel pen, then added a brad and a word sticker to each one, just to dress them up a bit.

Simple Stories has a brand new-to-them embellishment releasing with this collection, too- die cut packs! I love ephemera and die cut packs because you get so many pieces at a small price-point, and often when I'm buying a collection I'll pick up just the die cuts or die cut chipboard and just a few other pieces, then mix them with paper from my stash. I can almost always find patterned paper to match them, and you still get the iconic "look" of a line without having to buy the whole thing.

We're heading into the Christmas season with Project Life, and my plan is to continue to do both my weekly album along with Journal Your Christmas album, just as I've done in past years. Some photos may be duplicated between the two, but Project Life is where the more "everyday" type stuff goes, and my Christmas journal centers around the prompts that Shimelle sends out each day, which always have me reflecting on the season, both past and present, in very specific ways. For me, they're two very different projects, and I love them both. :)